The Young Lions

August 10, 2009

Great radio series of five ’emerging cultural voices’ by NPR’s Africa Correspondent, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. From her base in Dakar, Senegal, Quist-Arcton focuses on young artists from making an impact not just musically, but politically. Good for them. The inclusion of Senegalese rapper, Didier Awadi, (above), might come as a surprise to some.

He is bordering on being classed an old school rapper by now. Positive Black Soul, the group he help found, came into existence in 1989. But it all makes sense: more recently, Awadi has emerged as a social critic and political activist: Most notably, two years ago he made a song, the accompanying video which went viral, that criticized the Senegalese government for the causes that leads to often tragic emigration by young Senegalese because of a dire economic situation.

The other artists profiled in the series are Ethiopian singer Teddy Afro (another not so young artist) whose facing a jail sentence unrelated to his music (he’s a major critic of the Ethiopian dictatorship) , South African performance poet Lebo Mashile, Ugandan novelist David Kaiza, and Ghanaian artist Heather Badger).

2 Comments

samboerou

I won't take him so lightly,I believe him to be one of the most powerful young voices in Africa right now.Firstly he is pivotal in the Senegalese Hip Hop scene,where they brought about the first political change since independance.Him producing others too, at his Studio Sankara,whom he has also dedicated a song to.Spanning borders his father being Beninese.Collaborating on various projects with Tiken Jah Fakoly,another voice of the youth.Brought together a whole lot of young African artists for the Africa Wants to Be Free and Decolonisons! projects.So as K'Naan has said,"What's Hardcore", instead of stopping his concert,because his bling has been redistributed,Didier has been very dedicated to the causes of our continent,whether Fair Trade,corruption or neo colonialism ,whether in Dakar,Paris or Porto Alegre,he has been there at the cutting edge of what matters.Hats off to a dedicated brother.